Coffey is hoping for more success this weekend against the other top players in the area.

"I just go out and play my game," Coffey said. "If I play my game and just focus on me, I feel that I will be there coming down the stretch."

Golfing has been a big part of the Coffey family. Tim's father, Dave, former athletics director of Northwood University, got Tim started at a young age.

"I was on the (athletics) staff at Ohio University when he was a kid," Dave Coffey said. "This was when he was four or five. I lived in an apartment that was close to the university golf course. After work, I'd go and play nine holes, and he would come with me."

Tim's grandfather, Richard Evans, was also an accomplished golfer until his death in 1990 at the age of 73. According to Tim, Evans was about a 2-handicap in his prime. His grandmother, Eleanor, now 87, plays in a weekly 9-hole league in Ohio.

"Now she just plays the short holes," Tim said. "She does it every summer on Mondays. She's a real inspiration for me."

Evans was also instrumental in getting Tim to play. He was part-owner of a driving range in Youngstown, Ohio.

"My grandfather got my dad involved, and then I came along," Tim said. "I would say the influence of both of them helped. When I was five or six, my dad would go out and play nine holes with one other person. I would go out and just whack the ball around and follow them around.

"My favorite times growing up were going out with my dad, my grandfather and my uncle or cousins," he added.

Tim said his aunt was also an accomplished player.

"If golf would have been a bigger thing when she was going to college, she probably would have been on a college team," Tim said. "She was a strong player with a beautiful swing."

From there, Tim flourished at the sport by both playing and watching it on television. At the age of seven, while living in Mount Pleasant, Tim literally had a course in his backyard.

"The house we lived in had a large backyard," Dave Coffey said. "I would cut it back there and cut a green that he could hit to. We put a flag in, and he would hit back there for hours."

Tim also spent a lot of time playing at Riverwood in Mount Pleasant, where he and his father were members. Tim played and practiced with Cindy Figg, who went on to play on the LPGA Tour. Tim won the Riverwood State Junior Tournament as a 10-year-old.

In high school, Tim played as a freshman on Mount Pleasant's varsity team. But the following year, the family moved when Dave became the athletics director at Tennessee Tech. Tim played three years in high school and decided to play college golf at Tennessee Tech.

But again, the Coffeys moved when Dave became the AD at Portland State. Tim played college golf at PSU for one year before returning to Tennessee Tech for his final two years of eligibility. At TTU, he earned Ohio Valley Conference First Team honors and was an All-Academic selection.

After he graduated with a degree in business administration, Tim worked as an assistant golf professional for five years before becoming the intramural director and tennis coach at Lake Superior State.

He is now a supervisor at the Midland Community Center and says he doesn't have much desire to take a shot at the PGA Tour.

"It takes a lot of money to get there," Tim said. "I have more confidence in my game now than I did in college. When you have that confidence, you feel you can do anything. I probably didn't feel that my game was at that level (in college), nor did I have the financial situation to go out there and try it.

"It's a totally different ball game. I feel that I'm one of the upper-tier amateurs in the state. But there's a world of difference between this level and (the professional level)."

Tim also credits technology as a reason that he's a better player today.

"It makes a tremendous difference," he said. "I'm twice the player that I was 10 years ago. I play a lot more, but a lot of it has to do with the ball and the clubs."

Tim finished third at the state Mid-Amateur last year. That earned him an invitation to play in the national Mid-Amateur Tournament in Philadelphia in October. He'll also play in the state Mid-Amateur in August in Harbor Springs and the Players Championship at Currie later this summer.

"I don't have that drive that some people have who play in an individual tournament every weekend," Tim said. "It would be nice to do that, but it takes time and money, quite frankly. I enjoy playing in just a few events a year."

Golf isn't the only sport he excelled at growing up. When he hurt his arm in high school, Tim had to give up baseball. He took up tennis and became his school's No. 2 singles player and top doubles player as a senior.

"I had a sore arm from pitching so much," Tim said. "The pitchers went through such a grind. I got to the point where I couldn't even touch the bill of my cap with my left arm.

"Some of my friends were tennis players, so I hung out with them and … tried out. I had a great time. I got to the state tournament in doubles and to the regionals in singles."